Rockmart Fire and Rescue will be getting a new fire apparatus slightly earlier than their normal turnaround time on such equipment, and one main reason for the pending replacement? New federal regulations on what kind of motors can be found inside.

Those regulations going into effect in the coming years for all new equipment powered by diesel engines are sending prices skyrocketing for upgrades on items like pumper trucks and fire engines. Enough that Rockmart Fire Chief Todd Queen told the council the savings were worth making the order immediately.

“We hold these trucks for three years, and we buy one every 10 years,” Queen said. “It goes through a cycle of first out, second out and then it goes into reserve. Engine 2 – which is our oldest truck, a 1994 Pierce – is aging out. It’s time to replace it.”

He came before the council and got unanimous approval after explaining if the city didn’t order now, they were likely going to have to pay a lot more for a new Pierce fire engine. He was made aware of the pending increase in their order that was supposed to be set for another year or two down the road with delivery in 2027.

This was after they began working on the specifications for a 36-month delivery turnaround on a Pierce Impel Pumper apparatus*. The idea was to get a similar engine layout as Engine 1, which was purchased in 2015. The city was quoted a price of just over $735,000 for the cost as-is.

“We were looking at a delivery date at somewhere around the fall of 2026,” Queen said. Then he reported the bad news.

WATCH: Rockmart City Council’s full April meeting

New Environmental Protection Agency regulations are going into effect on diesel engines that require producers of heavy diesel engines to reduce emissions is going to increase the cost of the powerplants that operate all kinds of construction equipment, trucks, and emergency equipment used across the globe. The emissions standards go into full effect by January 2027, Queen said.

Pierce Manufacturing – who makes the Fire Apparatus used by Cedartown and Rockmart’s fire departments – was told by their engine supplier Cummins that as of January 2026, they will only get powerplants made to new standards for future orders.

Those costs ultimately are passed onto the consumer – in this came the City of Rockmart – to the tune of $109,000 more for the engine.

The council’s approval to go ahead with ordering the new fire apparatus – a replacement for Engine 2 – means the city won’t have to spend that additional money for the upgrade and secures them an accelerated 2025 delivery timetable Pierce Manufacturing.

Queen’s news and the subsequent purchase do point toward a looming issue facing municipalities across the country: equipment purchases are going to increase in price, and the sticker shock may make replacements hard to finance in the near future.

Rockmart Fire and Rescue usually operate a vehicle dozens of years before they are replaced in one form or another. Queen told the council his department usually gets no more than a couple of years of gap without a lease payment for equipment replacements, but this time around the opportunity to get an engine order in before the price increase, along with the delivery schedule for two years from now, make the order worthwhile.

“The only major impact I see to the city is that we do lose a year where we aren’t paying for a fire truck,” Queen said.

Additionally with the order being placed now, Rockmart Fire and Rescue gets additional opportunity to customize the vehicle replacement to fit the exact needs of the department at no additional cost. The department has three pumping apparatus currently in their inventory.

The standards on diesel engines set to go into full effect with 2027 model year vehicles require that powerplants now meet aggressive new emissions reduction targets. The goal of the regulation is to reduce emissions of nitrogen dioxide 80 percent below the current standard.

Diesel engines are used in a variety of vehicles on and off the road, operating heavy equipment like earth movers, excavators and cranes to emergency vehicles like fire engines and ambulances.

Tuesday’s vote then also is a signal that costs will be going up for local governments to purchase replacement equipment in the coming years. It does provide a market opportunity thus far not tapped by major manufacturers like Cummins, Catepillar, Kubota, YANMAR and others in the marketplace to seek alternative fuel sources for heavy equipment as well.

“I think this is going to be a problem that departments are going to face everywhere,” Queen said.

*(Note: A fire engine is a generic term for a fire pumper used in normal operations. A Fire truck is a generic term used to describe essentially several variations of a ladder truck, a pumper truck or other rescue operating vehicles used by a Fire Department.)